Franko Simatović

Franko "Frenki" Simatović (Serbian Cyrillic: Франко "Френки" Симатовић) (born April 1, 1950 in Belgrade, Serbia, FPR Yugoslavia) was the head of the Serbian secret police of Slobodan Milošević, the Special Forces of State Security of the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs. He was the founder of the "Unit". Simatović is an ethnic-Croatian.

As Milosevic himself put it, "Franko Simatovic headed the intelligence administration of the state security service." [http://www.un.org/icty/transe54/030611ED.htm] Captain Dragan testified that Simatovic was a "computer scientist who didn't even graduate." [http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:fyQxilkF5-wJ:www.un.org/icty/transe54/030220IT.htm+site:www.un.org+%2B%22www.un.org/icty%22%2B%22franko+simatovic%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=34&gl=ca]

Simatovic has frequently been blamed for the activities of the "Knindže", in the Serb Republic of Krajina, led by Captain Dragan. This has to do with the confusion people have in differentiating between the Red Berets who served in the Krajina and the JSO, also known as Red Berets. Moreover, Simatovic and Captain Dragan were friends. Nonetheless, the JSO was created in 1996, after the wars in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina had ended.

At the Milosevic trial, Captain Dragan explained the confusion. He said that the "people who created the JSO, in other words Frenki Simatovic...needed a tradition to put behind a unit that did not exist...He simply started appropriating traditions. He asked me if I had any souvenirs from battles in Glina, from Ljubovo, and I gave him what I had. He was driven by the desire to lend importance and tradition to a unit which never exceeded a company in strength."

He is accused of committing various atrocities against non-Serbs during the Yugoslav wars including persecution and murder [http://www.un.org/icty/cases-e/cis/jstanisic/cis-stanisic.pdf] . As part of Milan Martić's trial at the ICTY, he was found to be part of a "joint criminal enterprise which aimed to create a Greater Serbia including parts of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina." [cite web
url=http://www.un.org/icty/pressreal/2007/pr1162e-summary.htm
title=Summary of Judgement for Milan Martić
accessdate=2007-06-12
date=2007-06-12
publisher=International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia]

Alleged co-conspirator Vojislav Seselj was asked about Simatovic.

Franko Simatovic nicknamed Frenki is a person I had never seen in my life until Simatovic came to the prison of The Hague Tribunal. [http://www.un.org/icty/transe54/050825IT.htm]

MUP General Obrad Stevanovic told the Milosevic trial that "I attended the ceremony at the end of the winter, beginning of spring...1996, and that ceremony was organised...with regard to the establishment of the unit for special operations." [http://72.14.205.104/search?q=cache:SUUfx4dtGUYJ:www.un.org/icty/transe54/050527ED.htm+site:www.un.org/icty/transe54+%2B%22Simatovic%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=40&gl=ca]

Accused by Prosecutor Nice of "trying to hide your knowledge of the Red Berets", he replied

No. That is not true. I am not trying to obscure what I know. I remember very well that I was invited to the ceremony to mark the establishment of the unit for special operations. Of course, I don't remember every detail of every speech, but my entire recollection of that ceremony indicates that that unit was established then or the day before, but the ceremony was dedicated to the establishment of that unit. [http://72.14.205.104/search?q=cache:HHyEPrHPTn0J:www.un.org/icty/transe54/050606ED.htm+site:www.un.org/icty/transe54+%2B%22Simatovic%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=56&gl=ca]

Alleged Frenki sightings

In order to place Simatovic and his superior Jovica Stanisic in the middle of a great conspiracy, they have been tied to any military formation in Croatia or Bosnia and Herzegovina run by Serbs that featured red berets. Some secret witnesses testified at The Hague claiming to have seen Frenki.

A Milosevic trial secret witness C17 claimed that there was a Red Beret camp set up in July 1992 at Borci at Boracko Lake in Herzegovina. He said that 10 to 12 Red Berets trained new recruits. He claimed that "it was the same sort of training that those men had attended, or as far as I could see, that they went through in Knin with Captain Dragan, the same drills. And this was done under their supervision and it was their military training, in fact..." He claimed that Franko Simatovic showed up perhaps in July 1992. He said that Pero Divljak was there, supposedly with an official Serbian secret service ID document. Krajina unit commander Zika Crnogorac was there; he was described as the "commander of the camps" and a "bestial person in human form".

He described Frenki's arrival

First they had said that the camp had to be cleaned up and put in order, and then they placed some benches in the headquarters. Frenki arrived by helicopter. We were all lined up. Aco Legija reported to him about the situation in the camp. I can't remember everything he said, but he said how many men there were in the camp and the level of readiness in the camp and military, things of that kind. Then Frenki delivered a patriotic speech about the Serbian knights and the successes scored by the Red Berets. I can't remember the exact wording of the speech. But there was this patriotic schund being delivered. And once that was over, the speech of his, we went into a room that they used as headquarters where we were given according to CZ-99 the pistols that had arrived with Frenki, and we were told that we would have to write the CVs of all of us in order to become members of the Red Berets, to write a curriculum vitae for membership. [http://www.un.org/icty/transe54/030610ED.htm]

Secret Witness C-048 claimed to be a member of the State Security Service. He said that he met Simatovic in Erdut in eastern Slavonia in mid-1993 during the time of the Vance-Owen Plan. He said...

Yes, Franko Simatovic did speak about the problems he was having with Radovan Karadzic, and he said about him -- he said, "Well, we gave him everything and now he's trying to play smart now. He doesn't want to listen to us." And in that context he praised Goran Hadzic. He said that he was -- always listened and that there was no chance that he would escape control like the other one. And the other one was clearly meant to mean Radovan Karadzic. And he would also say with respect to Goran Hadzic that he had been a warehouse clerk before that and that he was happy to hold the position he held now and that he had no plans of making and difficulties or meddling in any affairs. [http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:glMe5NQymvwJ:www.un.org/icty/transe54/030429ED.htm+site:www.un.org+%2B%22www.un.org/icty/transe54/%22%2B%22franko+simatovic%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=ca]

This particular witness's credibility however has been severely questioned. [http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:s8yeKz7MeRMJ:www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/smorg042903.htm+%2B%22c48%22%2B%22slobodan-milosevic.org%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=ca]

Witness B-104 also claimed to have seen Frenki. As Milosevic put it, "As you weren't there in 1995, how is it possible that... you say that Franko Simatovic left Bajina Basta...in late 1995? You weren't there after 1994 and yet you claim that he was there until the end of 1995..." "Mr. B104" admitted that "I said that I heard that from people who were there." [http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:EWtLNanCytkJ:www.un.org/icty/transe54/030409ED.htm+site:www.un.org+%2B%22www.un.org/icty/transe54/%22%2B%22franko+simatovic%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=11&gl=ca]

Translator Slobodan Lazarevic testified that Simatovic attended "regular meetings at the 21st Corps (of the Krajina army) and I doubt very much that they held those meetings of their own free will, by their own decision, without instructions and decisions from their superiors."

He also claimed "an intense presence of units of the MUP of Serbia." Milosevic then told him that "another protected witness and participant said that those were exclusively volunteers and mercenaries who helped out the army of the autonomous province of Western Bosnia, as instructors, and this area was in peaceful relations with both Krajina and Serbia?" Lazerevic replied "I know something different, Mr.Milosevic." [http://72.14.205.104/search?q=cache:jOlia6N_-eYJ:www.un.org/icty/transe54/021030ED.htm+site:www.un.org/icty/transe54+%2B%22Simatovic%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=54&gl=ca]

The next day Milosevic famously asked Lazarevic of a Colonel Pejovic who, according to Lazarevic, was 40 years old and blond. He asked Lazarevic if he knew Pejovic's nickname, which Lazarevic said he could not. When Milosevic told him it was "Peja the Gypsy", Lazarevic said that this was impossible as it was a "degrading" nickname. Milosevic then asked if he knew why he had this nickname, Lazarevic asked "How is this relevant?" Milosevic replied that Lazarevic had jet-black hair and dark complexion and this caused people to call him "Peja the Gypsy". Lazarevic then claimed that the reason he thought he had blond hair was because his hair was short(!)... [http://72.14.205.104/search?q=cache:mYcvOk0DzjkJ:www.un.org/icty/transe54/021031IT.htm+site:www.un.org/icty/transe54+%2B%22the+gypsy%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=ca]

References